Someone on Twitter was looking for suggestions. I rattled off a list…and then copied it to Facebook and thought of more…and I figured I’d throw the titles up here too, for easy access, though of course this is a mere sliver of what I’d put on my ideal Books for Ten-Year-Olds bookshelf. Later, when time permits, I’ll try to come back and add capsule reviews, but today is not that day.

(Um, it goes without saying I recommend my own The Prairie Thief for this age, yes? Because I’m totally saying it anyway. For boys and girls. Ahem.)

Harold Underdown suggested Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon Hale, and I second that—my kids and I loved it (and the related Calamity Jack—both graphic novels); they love all Shannon’s books like CRAZY. Next to Betsy-Tacy and Percy Jackson, the Shannon Hale novels are the most frequently borrowed books by their friends. We basically have a Lovelace/Riordan/Hale lending library going here.

Obviously, I could go on and on here. (See the comments for more suggestions.) This truly is a just-off-the-top-of-my-head list. Also check out my master list of book recommendations!

I love this list – and found a few books on it I completely forgot to put on my own list! So I have added them and might try out some of the others too because who cares what age a book is meant for, right?

My 9 year old son is a voracious reader and we both loved The Prairie Thief (my 7 year old is actually now reading it and really likes it – he says it’s kind of like My Neighbor Totoro which is one of our favorite movies). He also really enjoyed Wonder by R.J. Palacio (as did I). We recently read Ida B. and True (sort of) by Katherine Hannigan and really enjoyed them. I loved the Evolution of Calpurnia Tate and the Penderwicks but he wasn’t as interested in them. He also like the Mysterious Benedict Society quite a bit. He read Lord of the Rings trilogy this summer and loved it. Both my boys have recently loved Zita and the Spacegirl books – we’re dogearing the library copy so perhaps we should buy our own. Just off the top of my head…

Great list! Many of these also make great read-alouds for a younger child, or I should say I’ve read many of them aloud to my 8-year-old son in the past 3 years. Now, I’m eagerly awaiting an update to the Graphic Novels section of your master book list (I note Rebecca’s mention of Zita and the Spacegirl above) so I have some guidance as I seek out good (preferably nonviolent or too scary) options for my drawing-and-story-loving boy…

Maybe take a look at the Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi–10yo is probably the bottom age range there; I’ve only read book 4 and was lost on the ongoing storyline but I quite liked the subplots and the sci-fi/fantasy blend worldbuilding, and the art is simply stunning. Lush and wonderful.

Dan Santat’s Sidekicks is great fun, and John Gallagher’s Buzzboy — superhero fighting in both, no gore, comic in tone.

I really need to get around to writing a proper post about this–there are so many wonderful graphic novels for kids out there now. Eva Volin’s website is a tremendous resource for reviews, btw.